Elbow Hygroma in Dogs

Hey guys, my name is Dr. Larry here at Heron Lake Sandal Hospital. Today I'm here with Beauregard and Beau is a puppy, Newfie or Newfoundland. Or Newfoundland, depending on who you ask. I'm probably butchering, but that's totally fine. So Bo came in today because he was having some swelling on both his elbows. And so he had received a vaccine probably a few days before that. And then all of a sudden he started having these swellings on his elbows. And now we suspect that these swellings are what are called a hygroma. And so if you guys come over here and take a look at the computer screen, it's hard to see on Bo because it gets such long hair. These large breed dogs will develop this swelling that you see on the elbow or elbows. And so normally this is not something that is going to be painful. It is usually something that is not considered infectious or even contagious to you or other pets. It is something that a lot of times what you will notice or what the recommendations are is to go ahead and get elbow pads for some of these dogs to help them lay their arms and elbows on softer surfaces. The only issue with some of these larger breed dogs and dogs that are made for colder environments is that they don't like laying on the beds because the beds are too warm. So they like laying on the hard tile surfaces. So again you'll consider something called doglegs, that's a custom made elbow straps and pads for their elbows. So that way it helps to reduce the pressure and trauma that's being experienced by the elbows at the end of the day. Usually not going to require antibiotics, but on occasion can potentially need some anti inflammatory therapy. Now the other thing to take into consideration, we use cold laser therapy here at the office. And so one of the things that you have to realize when using cold laser therapy is you cannot use it on dogs whose growth plates are still open, meaning they're still growing. And these giant breed dogs tend to grow for a longer period of time. So it's something that you need to make sure if you're going to use that kind of therapy. First check with the company that makes the laser. And secondly, you want to go ahead and have X rays done on the joints to make sure that the growth plates are closed. Lastly, if you are using anti inflammatories, non steroidal anti inflammatories like Daramax, Metacam, Prevacox, Rimadil or Galliprant, you'll want to make sure that you had blood work done to make sure that the kidneys and liver are functioning perfectly fine. If you guys found this video helpful, please give us a thumbs up. Subscribe and share. Thanks for watching and have a great day.